2019-04-30

Apple $AAPL Q2 FY19 Earnings LIVE Webcast April 30, 5pm EDT


Steve Wozniak On Steve Jobs, Apple's Early Days:

In a 2011 CNBC interview, Steve Wozniak reminisced about his early relationship with Steve Jobs, the first Apple computers and the company's bold Super Bowl ad in 1984, the year the revolutionary Macintosh computer was released. Apple's track record hasn't been all sunshine, Airpods, and iPhones (the company has sold well over a billion of the smartphones). In fact, even the company that revolutionized the personal computer industry with the Macintosh has had its share of failures over the years, from an overheating computer to a handheld device that co-founder Steve Jobs hated and comedy writers mocked.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) FY 19 Second Quarter Results: Apple’s conference call to discuss second fiscal quarter results is scheduled for Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. PDT / 5:00 p.m. EDTListen to the conference call webcast. See also Apple Investor Relations | investor.apple.com.

UPDATE: earnings release excerpt: "Services Revenue Reaches New All-Time High of $11.5 Billion ... [total] quarterly revenue of $58 billion, a decline of 5 percent from the year-ago quarter, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.46, down 10 percent. International sales accounted for 61 percent of the quarter’s revenue." 

See also consolidated financial statements (pdf).

$AAPL


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2019-04-29

Alphabet $GOOG $GOOGL Q1 2019 Earnings LIVE Webcast April 29

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) quarterly conference call to discuss first quarter (Q1) 2019 financial results, Monday, April 29, at 1:30 p.m. PDT / 4:30 p.m. EDT, via LIVE webcast. A replay of the webcast will be available through the same link following the conference call. Go to the Investor Relations website at abc.xyz/investor on April 29, 2019, to view the earnings release prior to the conference call.

UPDATE: Earnings Release (pdf) excerpt:
"We delivered robust growth led by mobile search, YouTube, and Cloud with Alphabet revenues of $36.3 billion, up 17% versus last year, or 19% on a constant currency basis," said Ruth Porat, Chief Financial Officer of Alphabet and Google. "We remain focused on, and excited by, the significant growth opportunities across our businesses."
Editor's note: GOOGL shares have declined in early afterhours trading 29 Apr 2019.
$GOOGL
About Alphabet Inc.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in September 1998. Today the company has grown to more than 90,000 employees worldwide, with popular products and platforms like Search, Ads, Maps, Gmail, Chrome, YouTube, and Android. In October 2015, Alphabet became the parent holding company of Google.


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2019-04-28

News Review 1) .ORG Comments, 2) When To 'Short Sell' Verisign $VRSN

graphic "News Review" ©2016 DomainMondo.com
Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-04-28) with analysis and opinion: Features • 1) .ORG Comments Close April 29, 2) a. When to 'Short Sell' Verisign $VRSN, b. Domain Industry Collapse? c. A Trademark Is NOT A Monopoly, 3) .AMAZON Chaos, 4) EPDP Phase 2 'Daunting Task Ahead' 5) ICYMI: Warning re: Google Chrome browser, and more, 6) Most Read.

1) Public Comments Closing Soon on .ORG, .INFO, .ASIA, and .BIZ
graphic "ICANN | Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers"
Public Comments close at ICANN at 23:59 UTC (7:59 pm EDT) on the respective dates shown for each issue below:
Editor's note:  say “No” to Unlimited Price Increases on .Org Domain Names (and other gTLDs).
  • Read the .ORG comments submitted here, [UPDATE: including my comment (pdf) embed below].
  • UPDATE: read the .INFO comments submitted here, including my comment (pdf).
UPDATE: .ORG comment from Editor of DomainMondo.com (w/o attachments filed with original but links to same--link updated to ICA comment after ICANN org changed the URL):

2) Names, Domains & Trademarks 
graphic "Names, Domains & Trademarks" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
a. When To Short Sell Verisign $VRSN: VeriSign $VRSN Q1 2019 Earnings Results: Verisign ended the first quarter of 2019 with a total of 154.8 million .com and .net domain name registrations in the domain name base, a 4.4 percent increase* from the end of the first quarter of 2018 (a net increase of 1.82 million during the first quarter of 2019), $1.25 billion in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, Q1 revenue of $306 million, up 2.4 percent YOY, net income of $163 million (vs  $134 million Q1 2018). Nothing new reported re: ongoing discussions with ICANN re .COM pricing or .WEB arbitration (IRP). More info at the link above. 

*Editor's note.net registrations have actually declined due to .net price gouging by both ICANN and Verisign (see also this News Review 4)a.), so all the growth is attributable to .com. Verisign shares are nearing their all-time highs of year 2000 (graphic below) when Verisign bought Network Solutions  (see archive.org) which at that time controlled .COM, .NET and .ORG, a virtual monopoly on all gTLD domain names. Verisign acquired Network Solutions for "$21 billion in [Verisign] stock" which afterwards declined over 96% in value:
$VRSN
Once ICANN is completely "successful" in trashing .COM the same way ICANN is now trying to trash .ORG--see feature #1 above--may be the time to "short sell" $VRSN shares (see also next note below).

b. Domain Industry Collapse? 75% of websites today are not active, but parked domains or similar--internetlivestats.com. Editor's note: "what's this mean?" It means that total domain name registrations today of about 350 million could drop (not be renewed, etc.) by more than 50%, and internet "end users" would not notice anything different. It means that ICANN policy of enabling each gTLD registry operator to unilaterally price gouge all gTLD domain name registrants will eventually backfire with severe consequences for both the domain name industry and ICANN.

c. A Trademark Is NOT A Monopoly: "Trademark rights actually arise based on use of the mark ... exclusive rights in a trademark are inextricably linked to the goods and services with which the mark is used. Except in rare circumstances, a trademark is not a monopoly that allows its owner to prevent others from using the same word(s) in all circumstances."--Hutchison PLLC.

3) More .AMAZON Chaos:
To ICANN Board Chair Cherine Chalaby: 
  • 23 April 2019 Letter from Achilles Zaluar, Department of Technological Promotion | Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil; 
  • 23 April 2019 Letter from Brian Huseman,Vice President, Public Policy, Amazon.com, Inc., excerpt:  "the issue before the Board is to: 'make an objective and independent judgment regarding whether there are, in fact, well-founded, merits-based public policy reasons for denying Amazon’s applications.'
Editor's note: first, know that ICANN continuously misidentifies the applicant as "Amazon Corporation." The new gTLD .AMAZON applicant is Amazon EU S.à.r.l., a European legal entity owned, controlled, and formed by Amazon.com, Inc., primarily to dodge taxes.
"Amazon EU S.à.r.l. ... was incorporated in 2004 and is based in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Amazon EU S.à.r.l. operates as a subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc."--source.
Second, as I've said before, "the idea of having private .BRAND gTLDs was a mistake from the beginning, a corruption of the concept of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) as set forth in RFC 1591 written by Jon Postel, which predates the formation of ICANN and its "Californication" of the internet and global DNS. I'm with the South American countries. ICANN should do the "right thing" for once and end the .BRAND gTLD program, refund the application fees, and "undelegate" all .BRAND gTLDs from the internet "root," while allowing every owner of a distinctive trademark to block use of that mark as a gTLD in the future. End the ICANN extortion racket -- see .PING testimony."

4) EPDP Phase 2, The "Daunting Task Ahead"
UPDATE: First Meeting of  EPDP Phase 2, Thursday, May 2, 2019, at 14:00 UTC (10am EDT) but no video for observers, and transcript will be at least 72 hours delayed. Details of agenda and 'audiocast' here. Letter from Goran Marby (ICANN CEO) here (via GNSO Chair Keith Drazek).
Dear Members of the EPDP Team,
As I assume the duties of the Chair of the EPDP team of the second phase of the process, I would like to thank the GNSO Council for placing trust in me and appointing me to perform this important function. I also would like to pay tribute to the EPDP Team for the work accomplished during the first phase and their dedication to a task, which is far from trivial.
We have a daunting task ahead, which is exacerbated by the ambiguity surrounding the precise outline of implementation of the GDPR. We will be targeting a moving object as we develop the most effective way forward. It won’t be simple, but extremely interesting from a systemic point of view.
I hope that my previous experience in handling diplomatic negotiations in different circles at the UN as well as chairing the ICANN GAC from 2007 to 2010 will be beneficial for the team in advancing our objectives.
I have been with the Latvian diplomatic service for the past 27 years holding different positions in bilateral and multilateral settings. From 2000 to 2007, I was Latvian ambassador to the UN in Geneva and in that capacity was chosen to lead the preparations of the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) that culminated with the adoption of the Tunis Agenda*, partly devoted to global Internet governance issues. Since then my activities have been linked, directly or indirectly, with ICANN, either chairing the GAC or engaging with ICANN in different UN fora (Internet Governance Forum, WSIS Forum or UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development). At the time of chairing the ICANN GAC, I was involved in the development of the IDN Fast Track policy and opening of the GAC meetings to the ICANN community.
I look forward working with the team as well as ICANN supporting staff and rely on team’s collective wisdom and desire to reach a successful outcome. As soon as all members of the team will be announced, we will start our substantive activities.
Thank you in advance, Janis Karklins, EPDP Phase 2 Chair22 Apr 2019 (emphasis added)
*Tunis Agenda"INTERNET GOVERNANCE 29. We reaffirm the principles enunciated in the Geneva phase of the WSIS, in December 2003, that the Internet has evolved into a global facility available to the public and its governance should constitute a core issue of the Information Society agenda. The international management of the Internet should be multilateral, transparent and democratic, with the full involvement of governments, the private sector, civil society and international organizations. It should ensure an equitable distribution of resources, facilitate access for all and ensure a stable and secure functioning of the Internet, taking into account multilingualism."

From the EPDP mail list: Professor Mueller schools Ambassador Karklins and ICANN Vice-Chair Chris Disspain:
Greetings, Janis
Welcome aboard!
Recalling your role as IGF Director I look forward to working with you. This job will require all of your diplomatic skills. I say that because the problems we have are political, they are not caused by ambiguity in the law. There are stakeholders who want registration data to be available to anyone as quickly and as easily as possible, and there are stakeholders who want it to be protected as much as possible, and various positions in between. The law overriding this process is fixed, it is not a “moving target.” What moves and introduces ambiguity are the compromises and coalitions that form in the attempt to reach agreement. I hope you understand the importance of your role, which is not to drive policy or take sides, but to fairly broker agreements and get results in this contentious environment.--Milton Mueller 23 Apr 2019, Georgia Institute of Technology, Internet Governance Project (emphasis added)
Milton Mueller, 23 Apr 2019 replying to Chris Disspain (Vice-Chair of the ICANN Board of Directors and Board liaison to the EPDP), re: European Commission comments on Phase 1 report:

Chris
There is no inconsistency between the two statements. I am struggling to understand why key members of ICANN’s board do not understand this. Purposes determine what data is collected and how it can be used by the controller. Disclosure to third parties with legitimate interests is not a purpose ICANN has in collecting and using registrant data, but disclosure is nevertheless something that can happen legally when certain conditions are met. When a credit card company collects PII about me, its purpose is to facilitate financial transactions, it is not to provide my name and address to the police. But legally, the police can request disclosure of that information from the credit card company under certain conditions set by law. What is so difficult to understand there?
In the statements below, the EC merely insists, correctly, upon distinguishing between ICANN’s purposes for collecting and using registrant data, and its reasons for disclosing it to third parties. This does not rule out all disclosure to third parties with legitimate interests.
During the EPDP deliberations, the same point was made repeatedly by public comments, and a majority of the EPDP members. The law is clear. Some in this debate are trying to erect a false dichotomy: either we have ICANN collecting and disclosing registrant data indiscriminately, as it did during the old Whois, or there is no disclosure to third parties at all. Do you really think this is the choice we have? [link and emphasis added]
Also replying to Chris Disspain, Volker Greimann 24 Apr 2019:
Hi Chris,
I am with Milton here as I felt that the statements in the [European Commission] letter were more than clear when it comes to disclosures to law enforcement and third parties.  The purposes of law enforcement and third parties are not purposes of ICANN and ICANN should stop trying to fit a square peg through the round hole of its own purposes.
Law enforcement has legal rights under which access to data processed for various other purposes may be requested, for example under Art. 6 I (c) GDPR. Similarly, third parties will need a legal basis for any and every access request and controllers must in their own responsibility carry out a balancing between the rights of the data subject affected in each case and the rights of the requester. 
When they note under "Next Steps" that law enforcement needs a timely and workable solution going forward to ensure the ability of LEAs to access the data legitimately, that does not invalidate the basic legal assumptions they make before that. On the contrary, it supports their view that a disclosure model for LEAs that is compliant with the legal requirements as well as stable, transparent and predictable is necessary. 
No one said this was going to be easy but there is no contradiction in the letter when it comes to its messages. 
EPDP Links EPDP wiki & mail list, Phase 1 Final Report (pdf), GNSO mail list & calendar. Link to legal questions and memos.

EPDP related notes:
  • 9th EDPD (European Data Protection Days) 20-22 May 2019, Berlin--euroforum.de.
  • Annual Privacy Forum 2019--ENISA, DG CONNECT, the University of Rome Tor Vergata and LUISS University are organizing the Annual Privacy Forum (APF) 2019 on 13-14 June 2019 in Rome.--enisa.europa.eu.
  • The most stringent privacy law in the U.S. goes into effect January 1, 2020--California Consumer Privacy Act: A Compliance Guide | Skadden.com: "the law applies to any company that has California customers or employees, not just those based in the state."

5) ICYMI Internet Domain News 
graphic "ICYMI Internet Domain News" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Warning over Google Chrome browser--thetimes.co.uk: "... Google’s plans to encrypt Chrome will make it harder to block harmful material, including child-abuse images and terrorist propaganda. The new version will bypass most parental control systems and undermine the government’s attempts to stop under-18s viewing pornography ..."  See also Google Caves to the Intolerant Left, Betraying Its Own Ideals--dailysignal.com and "Former Mozilla exec: Google has sabotaged Firefox for years"--zdnet.com.

U.S. congressional leaders question Google's massive tracking database known as Sensorvault that allegedly contains precise consumer location information from hundreds of millions of devices.

Governments vs internet freedom--spiked-online.com: "British and Australian officials are killing off free speech online."

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–CA) declares a ‘New Era’ of Internet Regulation; EU Threatens Same--reason.com.

US: Analyzing the Republican net neutrality bills--aei.org.

Sri Lanka’s ban on social media forces a question nobody wants to ask: What if a global media network is impossible?--theatlantic.com.

Austria is About to Outlaw Anonymous Internet Comments--technadu.com.

Russia's parliament votes to unplug internet from world--dw.com.

To Battle Russian Disinformation, Ukraine Mimics … Russia--justsecurity.org.

It’s U.S. vs. World as Big Tech Faces Specter of Limiting Speech Online--nytimes.com.

EU: Good Ends, Bad Means? The EU’s Struggle To Protect Copyright--cfr.org and What the EU’s copyright overhaul means — and what might change for big tech--niemanlab.orgSee also "New European Law Will Change the Internet"--voanews.com, and Europe looks to remold internet with new copyright rules--abcnews.go.com.

India Is Leading the World in Internet Shutdowns--slate.com.

India: after TikTok Ban, Internet Freedom Foundation recommends alternatives to App Bans in India.

Venezuela: 'Venezuelans Are Starving for Information' in a Country in Chaos--time.com.

Brazil: Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Censures Online News Outlets--Supreme Court Justice Moraes went further and later blocked Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram accounts of seven people who wrote negative comments about his decision--riotimesonline.com.

Russia isn’t the first country to protest Western control over global telecommunications--theconversation.com.

Pakistan's Internet Landscape 2018--bytesforall.pk (pdf)

6) Most Read this past week on DomainMondo.com: 
graphic "Domain Mondo" ©2017 DomainMondo.com

-- John Poole, Editor  Domain Mondo 

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2019-04-27

Tech Review | How Uber Is Preparing For Its $UBER IPO (video)

graphic "Tech Review" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Tech Review (TR 2019-04-27)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1) How Uber Is Preparing For Its $UBER IPO, 2) Undersea Cables Carry 99% Of Transoceanic Data3) Investing: The Week & Investor Notes,  4)ICYMI Tech News: Apple, Qualcomm, Amazon, Huawei, AT&T, Why Go Long $IBM, London Unicorn Fintech Startups, and more.

1) How Uber Is Preparing For Its $UBER IPO

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says Uber is on track to go public later this year, a move that could make it the biggest IPO of 2019.  WSJ.com’s Jason Bellini breaks down five ways Uber is preparing itself for its market debut. WSJ.com video above published 2 Apr 2019.

Uber Form S-1--"We have applied to list our common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “UBER”--
 Uber S-1

UPDATE: see also S-1A: AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO FORM S-1 REGISTRATION STATEMENT filed 26 Apr 2019.

2) Undersea Cables Carry 99% Of Transoceanic Data
Despite their high cost and other challenges, modern undersea cables transmit data much faster and cheaper than satellites.The Cable That First United The World:

The dawn of instant global communication can be traced back to entrepreneur Cyrus West Field and his long-shot experiment to link the United States and Europe by telegraph in the 1850s. Bloomberg.com video above published Apr 16, 2019.

3) Investing
graphic: "INVESTING"  ©2017 DomainMondo.com
The Week: NASDAQ Composite +1.9% | S&P 500 Index +1.2% | DJIA <0.1%
S&P, NASDAQ set all-time closing highs after first-quarter GDP jump--MarketWatch.com
Investor Notes: 
Map of shipping routes shows the relative density of commercial shipping in the world's oceans (modified from original source: B.S. Halpern (T. Hengl; D. Groll) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link),

US economy grows by +3.2% in the first quarter, topping expectations--cnbc.com.

US: Love Affair With Cars Nearly Finished--moneymaven.io.

Germany, Europe’s largest economy, cut its forecast for 2019 growth in half, to just 0.5%, the slowest annual growth rate since 2013, when the euro zone was still trying to pull itself out of a sovereign debt crisis. Last year, German GDP rose by 1.4%.--qz.com

Threat of Contagion to Eurozone
from Spanish Banks’ Huge Bet on Emerging Markets to flee the consequences of euro debt crisis.--wolfstreet.com.

Italy's economy is one of the biggest downside risks to the global financial system and could spell disaster for Europe--businessinsider.com.

Gundlach: Modern Monetary Theory ‘Complete Nonsense--etftrends.com

Avoiding Stupidity is Easier than Seeking Brilliance--fs.blog.

The media exaggerates negative news. This distortion has consequences--theguardian.com"Far from being better informed, heavy newswatchers can become miscalibrated. They worry more about crime, even when rates are falling, and sometimes they part company with reality altogether."

Earnings season: Twitter, Facebook, Verisign, Amazon, and Microsoft (below):
Microsoft Earnings Release FY19 Q3 -- Microsoft Cloud Strength Drives Third Quarter Results -- Microsoft Corp. announced 24 Apr 2019, the following results for the quarter ended March 31, 2019, as compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year: Revenue was $30.6 billion and increased 14%; Operating income was $10.3 billion and increased 25%; Net income was $8.8 billion and increased 19%; Diluted earnings per share was $1.14 and increased 20% ... “Demand for our cloud offerings drove commercial cloud revenue to $9.6 billion this quarter, up 41% year-over-year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft. 

4) ICYMI Tech News:
graphic: "ICYMI Tech News" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Qualcomm: Why The Success Story Just Begins--seekingalpha.com.

Apple said Qualcomm’s tech was 'no good' in legal pleadings, but in private communications Apple said Qualcomm's tech was ‘the best.’--washingtonpost.com: “It potentially reveals that Apple was engaging in a bad faith argument both in front of antitrust enforcers as well as the legal courts about the actual value and nature of Qualcomm’s patented innovation”--Adam Mossoff, a law professor at George Mason University and director of the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property.

Apple spends more than $30 million on Amazon’s cloud every month, making it one of the biggest AWS customers--cnbc.com.

Huawei funded by Chinese state security according to a report published last week in The Times | thetimes.co.uk: the CIA accused Huawei of receiving funding from China’s National Security Commission, the People’s Liberation Army and a third branch of the Chinese state intelligence network.

AT&T: SeekingAlpha.com: "... tackling debt by selling off assets ... The yield is still over 6.3% ... the stock has had no growth in a decade, [but] that could change with WarnerMedia" [Editor's note: or perhaps not. AT&T Inc’s Q1 2019 revenue fell short of Wall Street estimates, losing subscribers in nearly all its businesses except wireless where it used aggressive price promotions. AT&T lost a net 544,000 premium TV subscribers, a category that includes DirecTV satellite and U-verse television customers. Analysts had expected a loss of 385,000 customers across DirecTV and U-verse, according to FactSet.com.]

Why go long IBM? Red Hat deal closes in H2 2019, plus strategic imperatives like cloud, security, AI, and blockchain.

London unicorn fintech startups vs. San Francisco--cityam.com.

U.S. activist investor Elliott Management invests 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion) in German business software company SAP.

Japan’s Softbank Group Corp to invest $1 billion in Wirecard via a convertible bond deal that may provide it a 5.6 percent stake in the German digital payments company.

Former Mozilla exec: Google sabotaged Firefox for years--zdnet.com.

The Streaming Wars: The Market Guide--seekingalpha.com.

Personal tech: feel trapped in Apple's ecosystem? Apple isn't the only one with an expansive ecosystem of products, services, and software--zdnet.com.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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2019-04-25

Amazon $AMZN Q1 2019 Earnings LIVE Webcast Apr 25, 5:30pm EDT

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) conference call and LIVE webcast to discuss Amazon's first quarter (Q1) 2019 financial results on April 25, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. EDT. The audio and associated slides will be available for at least three months thereafter at www.amazon.com/ir.

Q1 2019 Earnings Release (pdf)
Amazon reports Q1 2019 revenue of $59.7B, up 17% YoY, operating income of $4.4B, up from $1.9B in Q1 2018, and net income of $3.6B, up from $1.6B in Q1 2018. Amazon's AWS reported Q1 revenue of $7.7B, up 41% YoY and representing 13% of total sales at Amazon, up from 10% in Q4. Editor's note: shares are up in afterhours trading 25 Apr 2019.
$AMZN
2018 Letter to Shareholders
By Jeff Bezos on April 11, 2019

How Amazon Makes Money

Amazon reported a record net income of $10.1 billion in 2018, which was a considerable jump from $3 billion in 2017. CNBC breaks down where exactly the money came from and how Amazon Web Services, advertising and the third-party marketplace are driving Amazon's increased profitability. CNBC.com video above published Feb 18, 2019.


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VeriSign $VRSN Q1 2019 Earnings LIVE Webcast, April 25, 4:30pm EDT

 $VRSN Q1 2019
VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), earnings call for the first quarter 2019: Thursday, 25 April 2019, at 4:30 p.m. EDT  via listen-only LIVE webcast and teleconference call direct dial at (888) 676-VRSN (U.S.) or (786) 789-4776 (international), conference ID: Verisign. An audio archive of the call will be available at https://investor.verisign.com/events.cfm. Transcript here.

UPDATE 25 Apr 2019: Verisign First Quarter 2019 Results (pdf)
First Quarter GAAP Financial Results: VeriSign, Inc. and its subsidiaries (“Verisign”) reported revenue of $306 million for the first quarter of 2019, up 2.4 percent from the same quarter in 2018. Verisign reported net income of $163 million and diluted earnings per share (diluted “EPS”) of $1.35 for the first quarter of 2019, compared to net income of $134 million and diluted EPS of $1.09 for the same quarter in 2018. The operating margin was 65.4 percent for the first quarter of 2019 compared to 62.0 percent for the same quarter in 2018.

Financial Highlights: Verisign ended the first quarter of 2019 with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $1.25 billion, a decrease of $17 million from the end of 2018. During the first quarter of 2019, Verisign repatriated $249 million of cash held by foreign subsidiaries, net of foreign withholding taxes. Cash flow from operating activities was $187 million for the first quarter of 2019, compared with $90 million for the same quarter in 2018. Deferred revenues as of March 31, 2019 totaled $1.05 billion, an increase of $29 million from the end of 2018. During the first quarter of 2019, Verisign repurchased 1.0 million shares of its common stock for an aggregate cost of $175 million. As of March 31, 2019, there was $891 million remaining for future share repurchases under the share repurchase program which has no expiration date. 

Business Highlights: Verisign ended the first quarter of 2019 with 154.8 million .com and .net domain name registrations in the domain name base, a 4.4 percent increase from the end of the first quarter of 2018, and a net increase of 1.82 million during the first quarter of 2019 [Editor's note: .net registrations actually declined (see this News Review 4)a.), so the growth is all attributable to .com]. During the first quarter of 2019, Verisign processed 9.8 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net, compared to 9.6 million for the same quarter in 2018. The final .com and .net renewal rate for the fourth quarter of 2018 was 74.3 percent compared with 72.2 percent for the same quarter in 2017. Renewal rates are not fully measurable until 45 days after the end of the quarter.

Editor's note: during the conference call webcast 25 Apr 2019, CEO & Chairman James Bidzos said Verisign was in negotiations with ICANN in regard to .COM pricing and Amendment 35 to the  Cooperative Agreement with the US government (NTIA), but had nothing to report of substance, and likewise, there was nothing new to report in regard to .WEB other than Verisign is still attempting to intervene as a party in the pending arbitration (IRP), Afilias vs ICANN. Guidance for total 2019 (domain name base) growth in .COM & .NET combined: 2.5 to 4.25 percent.

VeriSign, Inc. (domain: verisign.com), is registry operator for .COM and other Top-Level Domains (TLDs), manager of 2 of the world's DNS root zone's 13 authoritative name servers, serves as the root zone maintainer, and is a global provider of other domain name registry services and internet infrastructure. VeriSign's headquarters: Reston, VA; Chairman & CEO: D. James Bidzos.
$VRSN


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2019-04-24

Facebook $FB Q1 2019 Earnings LIVE Webcast April 24, 5:00pm EDT

 facebook
UPDATE 24 Apr 2019: Listen to Webcast; Earnings Release (pdf) excerpt below; Slides (pdf).
"... we estimate that more than 2.1 billion people now use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger (our "Family" of services) every day on average, and around 2.7 billion people use at least one of our Family of services each month. In the first quarter of 2019, we reasonably estimated a probable loss and recorded an accrual of $3.0 billion in connection with the inquiry of the FTC into our platform and user data practices, which accrual is included in accrued expenses and other current liabilities on our condensed consolidated balance sheet. We estimate that the range of loss in this matter is $3.0 billion to $5.0 billion. The matter remains unresolved, and there can be no assurance as to the timing or the terms of any final outcome ..."
Editor's note: $FB shares are UP in afterhours trading 24 Apr 2019.

Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) release of first quarter 2019 financial results after market close on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. Facebook will host a conference call to discuss its results at 2 p.m. PDT / 5 p.m. EDT the same day. The LIVE webcast of the call can be accessed at the Facebook Investor Relations website at investor.fb.com, along with the company's earnings press release, financial tables, and slide presentation.

Following the call, a replay will be available at the same website. A telephonic replay will be available for one week following the conference call at 404.537.3406 or 855.859.2056, Conference ID: 9195605. Transcripts of conference calls with publishing equity research analysts held on April 24, 2019 will also be posted to the investor.fb.com website.
$FB
Facebook's brands include:
Left to right above:
  • facebook.com
  • whatsapp.com
  • messenger.com
  • instagram.com
  • oculus.com


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DISCLAIMER

2019-04-23

Twitter $TWTR Q1 2019 Earnings LIVE Webcast April 23, 8:00 am EDT

Twitter Investor Relations
UPDATE April 23, 2019 $TWTR shares are trading UP 16% mid-day.

  • Revenue: "Q1 was a solid start to the year with revenue up 18% year-over-year, reflecting particular strength in the US."
  • Profitability: "In Q1, revenue outperformance, in combination with lower expenses, resulted in better-than-expected profitability, with GAAP operating income of $94 million and GAAP operating margin of 12%."


Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) release of financial results for the first quarter 2019: April 23, 2019, before the market open at approximately 4:00 a.m. Pacific Time (7:00 a.m. EDT). On the same day, Twitter will host a conference call and LIVE webcast to discuss these financial results at 5:00 a.m. Pacific Time / 8:00 a.m. EDT.

Twitter will be following the conversation about the earnings announcement on Twitter.com. To have your questions considered during the Q&A, Tweet your question to @TwitterIR using #TWTR. To listen to a live audio webcast, please visit the company’s Investor Relations page at investor.twitterinc.com. Twitter has used, and intends to continue to use, its Investor Relations website and the Twitter accounts of @jack, @nedsegal, @twitter and @TwitterIR as means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD.
$TWTR


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2019-04-22

Vanguard Founder Jack Bogle's Investing Philosophy (video)

Vanguard Founder Jack Bogle's '90s Interview Shows His Investing Philosophy

Vanguard founder Jack Bogle, who died Jan 16, 2019, was famous for making investing accessible to the everyday person through index funds – funds that match a market barometer like the S&P 500. His message was simple: why waste money on expensive fees and commissions for complex funds when market barometers often outperform them? That message remained remarkably consistent throughout his career.

Jack Bogle needed hefty amounts of brainpower and market know-how to put together the first index fund. But for investors wanting to cash in on his idea, it's become pretty easy.

In 1975, the founder of Vanguard Group was able to turn a long-held belief into reality, namely that it was far more profitable to follow the market than fight it. Most mutual fund managers who picked stocks couldn't keep up with basic benchmarks like the S&P 500 Index, much less beat them, he found.

So he turned his thoughts into action, putting together the first fund that simply followed the S&P 500, minus a small management cost that was much cheaper than the active funds of the day. CNBC.com video above published on Jan 17, 2019.

One website (of many) using Bogle's principles: bogleheads.org

See also: 
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